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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Review: Eastpak Antidote Tour

I. GHOST OF A THOUSANDI'd love to grace you with a review that sung the praises of this band, and whole-heartedly agreed with Kerrang (who gave them 5 K's on their live performance). Unfortunately, I can't.
Firstly, because I got horribly lost on the mean streets of Birmingham, and missed a large portion of their performance. Luckily, one of the Street Team found me and escorted me and some other kids to the O2 Arena- post-hardcore fans aren't great with directions, it seems.
Secondly, what I saw sounded reasonable- the band attacked the stage with a suitable amount of gusto, and the sound they made was pleasing, if a little shambolic in places. But that's as far as it went- they haven't quite found that fine line between unbridled rage and musical finesse. I do have high hopes for their future, mind.

II. FOUR YEAR STRONGAs this motley crew of big, beardy types descend upon the stage, you think you know what to expect. Screaming (lots of it), raging guitar solos and lyrics that can go from nought to riot in sixty seconds. Well, you'd be wrong.
Four Year Strong have a strange yet enchanting blend of pop punk and hardcore that you'd never expect from such hairy chunks of masculinity. And from the general nods of approval emanating form the slightly nonplussed audience, it was a sound they were working. This is definitely a band I'll be checking out again soon.

III. ANTI-FLAGAppearances were once again deceptive with Anti-Flag- for such weedy looking dudes, they sure are furious about something.
You always know what you're going to get with Anti-Flag- angry, political tracks- and with tracks such as 'Turncoat' and 'The Press Corpse', they didn't disappoint in that respect. The music itself has alot to be desired- nothing spectacular, nothing amiss- but what I found most off-putting was their rapport with the crowd. They stressed- between every single bloody song- how they were all about peace and love, and how they would remember this night for the rest of their lives, and how stupid the government was, and how they wanted everyone to go in the circle pit. Seriously, give it a rest.
They did get a bunch of people on stage, which I thought was quite nice of them, but I know there were those who'd argue they'd paid to see Anti-Flag, not to see some kids get up on stage and sing Anti-Flag. Matter of taste, I suppose.
Reference must of course be made to their drummer, who is up there with the scariest dudes to ever have lived- he just looks so demented. He has that crazy look in his eyes- the look that says 'I've definitely worn a straight jacket at some point in my life'. Yikes.

IV. ALEXISONFIREThe main event- and I wasn't disappointed.
I was a little confused when they only set up three stands- I thought there were five guys in Alexisonfire? Of course, my naïveté was soon put right- the fourth guy up front, bassist Chris Steele, had no stand, due to the fact he couldn't stand still for more than two seconds. He bounded around stage in a state of insanity for the entire performance, in a whirlwind of his own sweat and saliva. He went absolutely mental, and so did the crowd- I must admit I was happily dragged into the furore, pulling shapes like I was demented- even being slammed into the railings by a tidal wave of Dallas Green fan girls didn't dull my appetite for frenzy.
This pandemonium was matched by the rest of band, who not only managed to command the stage with manic prowess, but also deliver soaring, clear vocals, and guitar playing to a standard I have yet to see matched in a live performance.

All in all, pretty damn awesome. I you're considering going to this concert, you should definitely pick up a ticket: you won't regret it.

MP3: Alexisonfire- This Could be Anywhere in the World

Photo of Alexisonfire courtesy of martybell on deviantART

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great review, really sums up everything I thought about the night, especially the boring Anti-Flag rants. As a big Ghost of a Thousand fan, I loved their set, and watched all of it! But maybe for people who didn't know their songs quite as well it might not have been quite as enjoyable. Alexisonfire completely stole the night though, especially with Cancer Bats.

Eileen said...

The random appearance from Cancer Bats was legendary. Pity I didn't get to see all of Ghost of a Thousand's set- my own fault for having a pathetic sense of direction, I suppose :)
-Eileen

hellocatfood said...

Have you ever seen Green Day live? I haven't but they're quite well known to get crowd members on stage to sing their songs whilst they go off for a drink. When we (yes, I was one of them and also about 10 years past being a kid) got on stage I don't believe any of us had a mic or sang, just a stick and a cowbell or drum. Still, I guess you weren't really enjoying Anti-Flag anyway, so this just further made things worse for you.

I found it refreshing that they had a differnt message, especially as Four Year Strong spent a lot of their time referring to us as Mother Fuckers.

Alexisonfire FTW!

To think I was gonna give up my ticket due to The Fall Of Troy pulling out

Eileen said...

I didn't really have a problem with audience participation, I'm just saying I could see how it might irk some people. I thought Anti-Flag were quite good, I'm just not the sort of person who likes her concerts interspersed with the same old 'peace and love' messages.

Oh, and I call everyone 'kid'- it wasn't a comment on the actual ages of the people on stage that night.

Not seeing Fall of Troy was a bit of a bummer. Still, a top night all in all.

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